Brussels, 04/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - Two varieties of genetically modified maize were approved by the European Commission for food/feed uses on Friday 4 December.
These are MON87427 by Monsanto and the hybrid NK603xT25, which is resistant to the herbicide Glyphosate and adjudged by the WHO and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) to be a probable carcinogen and is, for that very reason, highly controversial.
The European Parliament environment committee recently objected to the renewal of the authorisation of this transgenic maize, in the hope that Parliament as a whole would follow its lead (see EUROPE 11443). Both of the above GMOs received favourable scientific assessments from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the Commission points out. As has become the custom, the member states' experts were unable to reach a qualified majority for or against authorisation, either in the standing committee on food or in the appeal committee, the arbitration body.
NK603xT25 maize was produced by conventional crossbreeding of transgenic maize lines NK603 and T25. It has the tolerance to Glyphosate of NK603 maize and the tolerance to Glufosinate ammonium of T25 maize.
After its assessment of the literature on the risks of Glyphosate to health, EFSA recently concluded that it is unlikely that Glyphosate is carcinogenic (see EUROPE 11429). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)